County: Clare Site name: Poll Bunker, Pollbaun
Sites and Monuments Record No.: CL005-275---- Licence number: 21E0297
Author: Marion Dowd
Site type: Cave
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 525831m, N 702862m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.071223, -9.106777
In December 2020, Donal Hogan discovered a previously unknown cave in Pollbaun townland in the course of fieldwork for the Burren Programme. In April 2021, with colleague and caver Tim O’Connell, they began to dig out deposits from the cave floor to determine whether a larger system could be reached. Shortly into their investigation they recognised the presence of Bronze Age pottery sherds and animal bones in the sediment. They immediately ceased digging and contacted the NMS and NMI. The following month an archaeological inspection of the site was carried out by the author on behalf of the NMS.
Poll Bunker is a natural limestone cave. The entrance measures 0.5m x 0.45m and opens to the north-east, commanding panoramic and expansive views over the Burren. Inside the entrance is a drop of approximately 0.7m. A narrow passage, generally 0.8m wide, extends from the entrance for 1.5m before opening up into an oval-shaped, dry and dimly lit chamber which measures 1m x 1.2m. At the junction of the passage and chamber there is a second drop of 0.4m. Overall, the cave measures 2.7m in maximum length and 1.9m in maximum height.
When the site was first discovered, the floor of the cave chamber was strewn with large stones that probably represent the remnants of a dry stone wall that once blocked the entrance but subsequently collapsed and fell into the chamber. The weathering and fissuring on these stones indicate they originally formed part of an exposed karst surface outside the cave. Beneath the stone layer was a loose superficial silt stratum (0.5-0.12m thick) with frequent pebbles and moderate inclusions of small stones, charcoal flecks, land snail shells, decomposing foliage and a pocket of hazelnut shells (probably a wood mouse cache). Over 80 animal bones and bone fragments were recovered from on or in this layer in additional to charcoal and three sherds of Middle/Late Bronze Age pottery. Beneath the silt stratum, a firm yellow marly clay was exposed during the cavers’ investigation. A fragmented skull, possibly human, is embedded in this clay layer. A bird skull was retrieved sitting on a ledge in the back wall of the cave.
Fourth Dimension Prospection Ltd., Sligo
